We Were Written Up in the Austin Business Journal!

Kitchen campaign - Austin Business Journal:

Written by Austin Business Journal - Christopher Calnan ABJ Staff

An Austin resident used creative marketing to attract funding for a fledgling business.

Ebby Thomas won the $10,000 Eight O’Clock Coffee “Discover the Difference” contest to help build a commercial kitchen for her sister’s cake business, Haute Cakes Couture Desserts.

After Thomas’ idea to pay for the cake business kitchen was selected as one of the eight finalists from more than 50,000 registrants, she and her sister, Falana Thomas, pulled out all the stops to gather enough online votes to win.

Ebby Thomas used social networking Web sites such as Facebook, Twitter and blogs to get out the vote for her sister — and ultimately, a new kitchen. She also solicited votes through emails and in person.

“I even went as far as creating small ‘Vote for me’ cards to hand out to people as I shopped at stores,” she said. “I felt as though I was campaigning!”

The Thomas sisters have been operating the cake business out of a rental kitchen for about a year and recently made a down payment on a permanent home. The contest winnings are funding equipment and a remodeling of the shop.

**********
Note: I added the photo, it was not a part of the article. Amber Snow Photography